Communication systems for hearing-impaired individuals include a variety of communication devices and services that provide sign language interpretation during communication sessions. By way of example, Sorenson Communications® offers a variety of videophone devices and solutions that utilize the Sorenson Video Relay Service®. The use of indicators for identifying an incoming call to a communication device in a telecommunications system is commonplace. One predominant form of indicators utilizes an audible or sound-based mechanism (e.g., an audible ring or ring tone) for providing notification to a user. However, persons with hearing impairments may not be able to detect such audible indicators.
For hearing-impaired users, or in environments that are not conducive to audible indicator detection, visual indicators have been developed. One known visual-indication approach utilized by hearing-impaired users for identifying an incoming telephone call includes connecting a conventional telephone through a coupling circuit to a room lamp or other light source. The coupling circuit, upon detection of a telephone “ring” signal on a communication network, causes, for example, a room light or lamp to flash repeatedly when a ringing voltage or other signal designates an incoming call.
Telephone coupling circuits and single-light-source visual indicators have often been referred to as “flashers.” Flashers or visual indicators may be implemented as a single light source located on or near the telephone or may be coupled to a more generally present light source, such as a light bulb or lamp in a room inhabited by a hearing-impaired user. While such visual indicators provide notification to a user, such visual indicators are “one dimensional” in information conveyed in that they provide only a notification of the occurrence of an event (e.g., the ringing of an incoming call).
Some conventional systems have incorporated a visual indication for an incoming call based on the origin of the call (i.e., the caller). Another conventional system provides visual indication for an incoming call based on the destination device for the incoming call (i.e., the callee). In the latter system, such visual indication may include connecting the telephone to Wi-Fi-enabled “smart” light bulbs. The smart light bulb is capable of flashing in one of a variety of different colors. Each color supported by the smart light bulb may be assigned to a connected device belonging to a member of a household. When an incoming call is received by one of the connected devices, the respective device causes the smart light bulb to flash according to the callee-assigned specific color, thus notifying members of the household not only that there is an incoming call, but also whom the call is for.